How to vote in better health this election day

On the eve of what either way will be a historic election for our country I bring to you my “State of the Healthcare System Address”.

You will spend far more time tonight watching states turn red or blue than the few minutes to read this post, but at the end of the night what will the majority of the states turning red or blue really have to do with your health.

Let us start with a simple question.

Does your current healthcare system really deliver health?

Many patients are frustrated with the system of healthcare, and they are frustrated for a multitude of reasons:

Health insurance companies that do not value their health, and do not pay for the treatments that they value for their health

The short amount of time they can get face to face with their physician

They do not see and feel results with their treatment

They do not see the path to better health

They feel they are getting sicker while accumulating more medications

And they are very frustrated with the amount of money they pay for this brand of healthcare.

If we look for the positive in the negative however, the frustration often leads and empowers some patients to take ownership for their health, and pursue other paths to improve their health.

Often times, that is exactly how they find their way into my practice – to get additional guidance on how to restore their health or function – and to get away from simply managing the symptoms.

When I break down the common threads woven into the fabric of their stories, and determine why they have not gotten better with conventional treatments, it can be distilled down to several elements that were horribly lacking, and flat out ignored, in their prior treatment:

Whole food nutrition specific to meet the needs of their body

Exercise – preferably a form they enjoy!

Better sleep quality and quantity

Stress reduction

Clean air

Clean water

Sunshine

A better social and community network providing laughter, love, and support on their journey

Whatever the disease state – pain, arthritis, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure – across the board they improved dramatically when they consistently implemented these fundamental pieces into their lifestyle.

Is this an earth-shattering revelation? No.

Common sense? Absolutely.

Utilized in the mainstream, conventional medical approach ? Almost never.

In fact, many of the stories told to me included a tipping point for the patient where they were actually told by a health care provider that “your condition is irreversible”, or “It doesn’t matter what you eat.” Ignorance at it’s best.

Yet, when they sought a different path out of sheer frustration, grasping at anything that might work when everything else had failed, guess what?

It actually worked!

Were they completely cured? In some cases, yes. In other cases, no, but they did make dramatic improvements, and in most of the cases in a very short amount of time. They were able to reduce or discontinue medications, find some hope, and get plugged back into a life that had been hijacked by their poor health.

I have my own story that drove me out of the conventional medical model and into the practice I now love working in every day. It reads more like a novel, so I’ll save it for another day.

What I can tell you today is that I have countless stories from my own patients who first changed their mindset, then changed their lifestyle, and then achieved amazing results.

They decreased or eliminated medications, nagging pain, stubborn weight, and many other conditions, slept better, decreased stress levels, and in some cases even started to reverse diseases once told to them to be irreversible.

They took back control of their health by making an investment in their health. They made it a priority to eat high-quality whole foods, exercise, and find an outlet or additional help for the stress that weighs heavy upon those in a state of disease. This lifestyle became top of mind, not an afterthought. They did not wait on politicians or the insurance company’s shell game of covered benefits to decide what is “best” for them or what might be a covered benefit. They took action and were rewarded with incredible results.

I am inspired by my patient’s stories – where they started, and how far they have come. They refine my focus and fuel my determination as I swim against the heavy current of a failing medical system sweeping many down the river.

The system seems be content paying for costly procedures, medications and other treatments that often have a limited effect, or no effect at all. The procedures and treatments are mostly ineffective because they are palliative, or we simply waited to long to intervene and the damage has already been done.

This system is waiting for the individual to become sick, and then treat, rather than preventing sickness in the first place.

Paying for preventive care and education that can decrease the development of chronic disease, which would undoubtedly decrease the burden of providing health care for all, is not even on the agenda.

You are soon to be pulled over the falls into some very turbulent waters if we are not able to change this way of thinking. Despite mountains of research showing the connections that nutrition alone can have on maintaining optimal health, preventing disease, and in some cases even reversing disease, this is simply not in the plans for whatever version of healthcare reform to be continually forced upon you.

Many experts now agree that Standard American Diet (SAD), consumed by a great majority of people in this country, is the leading contributing factor to the widespread deterioration of health I unfortunately see limping into my office on a daily basis. That is truly SAD – and totally preventable through such easy interventions as paying attention to what you eat, and taking better care of your bodies. YOU. ARE. WORTH IT.

And although every expert has slightly differing opinions on what the healthiest diet might be, what supplement to use or not use, to consume organic or genetically modified organisms/foods (GMOs) or not, let me cut the debate down to the core and make this really, really simple. If you get rid of the calorie rich and processed (CRAP) foods (credit to Jeff Novick, MS, RD –www.jeffnovick.com) and integrate the highest-quality whole foods you can afford, while implementing the other fundamentals above, your health will begin to change radically for the better. You will become one of the success stories, not just another SAD story or statistic.

I challenge you to prove me wrong.

I am not running for public office, but by definition I am a public servant to my community and have a responsibility to deliver the best brand of healthcare I can to each patient I am lucky enough to meet.

I will be taking a lead role in delivering a new brand of healthcare known as Functional Medicine and Regenerative Medicine to our community.Specifically, I will focus on nutrition, lifestyle, and procedural interventions to get you out of pain, and keep you out of pain. More importantly, our unique approach will lead to better health at the same time.

My mission is simple – to put you back in the driver seat to manage your pain so it does not manage your life and limit your potential in what you want to accomplish for yourself and the ones you care about.

The Evolution of Medicine is upon us, and there will be some exciting changes for you, and my practice, in the coming years.

My campaign platform is focused on being the community resource for sustainable lifestyle interventions that you can use safely to reduce pain, regain and attain optimal health, and increase your function and quality of life at any age.

In a time of information overload, you will get a steady diet of the best, easily digestible, evidence-based information available to help take back your health and get back into life.

I am assembling a network of like-minded collaborating authors, researchers, and health care practitioners to create resources to simplify the hard science so you can quickly put knowledge into action.

If you are literally sick and tired of being sick and tired, living in daily pain, and frustrated by the current medical system or the state of your health, I’m going to challenge you to stop hiding in the shadows and failures of our sick care system and take ownership for your own health.

Max Plank, the German theoretical physicist credited with the origin of quantum theory, was often quoted as saying:

“A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up familiar with it”.

I am going to disagree with the Nobel Prize winning Plank. (Yes, I have the courage to challenge a Nobel Prize winner because since he cannot really argue back after his passing in 1947).

We don’t have to wait for our opponents to die off, and we certainly don’t have to wait for a whole new generation to grow up with a complete trail map to successfully navigate the current system and improve their health. We can start now, today.

If your are willing to take that first step towards fixing your health, then I promise to do everything I can to guide you down the path, out of the deep canyon and darkening skies “doom and gloom” of the current system, and into a brighter future tomorrow.

You have the incredible freedom and privilege today to cast a vote in what will be a historical election.

You also have the freedom to make a choice and cast a vote for what you feel is the best healthcare system for you and your family in the coming years.

Vote for better health.

Take back your health.

It will not be given to you – regardless of who is elected into office.